Black History Month Blog

An intern at the Birmingham News in Birmingham, AL discovered a box of never before released photographs from the Civil Rights Era that had been kept in a box since the 1950's and 1960's. The photos were stored in a box marked "Keep. Do Not Sell," but never published over concerns journalists of the time had over drawing attention to racial discord. The Birmingham News has published the photos on its Web site in a report called "Unseen. Unforgotten." See the full article for more details.

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research & Reference Services

Posted by at 8:59 AM | Permalink

VCU Libraries' African American Biographical Database (AABD) abounds with valuable information including biographies and narratives pertaining to African Americans from 1790 to 1950. Here you will find accounts of both prominent figures as well as everyday persons including business leaders, former slaves, artists, athletes, writers, church leaders, homemakers, scientists, and many more.

To find a specific profile, you can search using the person's name, state/country, city/county, occupation, religion, birth and death dates, or gender. You can also search full text narratives for instances a person's name or a keyword in full-text resources, some of which include photographs and other images. In addition, the AABD allows you to browse the sources in the database, which consist of biographical sketches and narratives from fascinating primary sources!

Not only is the AABD a useful resource for finding biographies and conducting genealogical research, but you can also trace the histories of movements such as the Abolitionist movement and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

Posted by at 8:34 AM | Permalink

The Martin Luther King Newspaper Archive: The fee-based service NewspaperArchive.com
now offers a free archive on the history of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the viewing thousands of original newspaper articles. The archive includes stories from days of the Montgomery bus boycott, the "I Have A Dream" speech, King's
assassination on April 4, 1968, and thousands of other full-text news stories on the civil rights leader. A timeline
is provided to view newspaper stories in chronological order or you can search for articles with your own key words.

--Dan Ream, Head - Education and Outreach Services

Posted by at 8:18 AM | Permalink

Prominent Muslim scholar Imam Zaid Shakir has written an insightful and thought-provoking article on the meaning of Black History Month from a Muslim perspective. Shakir's article is freely available online from the Zaytuna Institute. In this article, Shakir reflects on the state of African-Americans in the United States, among other topics, and proposes some strategies for overcoming pressing social problems.

Thanks to Ali Faruk, President of VCU's Muslim Students' Association for recommending this article for the Blog! Look for a post from Ali on Monday about an exciting MSA event coming up next week called "The Pilgrimmage of Malcolm X!" The event will take place at 7pm on Wednesday in the Commonwealth Ballroom A of the Student Union. More details to come in Monday's post!

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian.

Posted by at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)